


Hit the bullseye, boy

by greatjam



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AU, Darts, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:59:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greatjam/pseuds/greatjam
Summary: Alfred has been long watching a handsome man at the local bar. The man is always playing bar games with his friends, and he's darn good at darts.





	Hit the bullseye, boy

He was a regular at the nearby bar. Every day he would be there with his friends, throw the dart so darn well and avoid drinking unless it was Friday. When it was Friday, his face would be all flushed from the alcohol overtake, and his peers would laugh and joke about it.

Oh, and he was so damn good looking.

He had a piercing look in his eyes and a confident smile when he felt like smiling, he was so goddamn hot.

Alfred felt like the young girls behind his table, electricity in his gut when he looked at the guy. He didn’t know him in any way, but for some reason he found the man so alluring. How he wished that the man acknowledged him and they became friends…

He often heard how the girls argued about who was the handsomest man in there. And of course, he would always be one of the favourites. He, who always was there with his friends (work colleagues?) and they played some games together. Usually they played the darts that Arthur was so good at, or billiard or snooker.

He sometimes overheard the name he responded to, “Arthur”. What a common name for such an enthralling man.

Matthew and Kiku chatted at his table, like usual. Alfred never had come there in the purpose of staring at the guy. Arthur just happened to catch his attention every time, but mostly Alfred was there to spend time with his friends, too.

“Did he steal your past girlfriend or why are you always looking at that guy over there?” Matthew asked.

“Nah, he’s here almost every time we visit this bar, that’s what I’m wondering about.”

“They’re probably employees from some place near here,” Kiku commented. Alfred took a sip of his drink.

“Should we try those games sometime?” Alfred asked, but others looked unsure.

“I don’t think I’m the type to play. Heck, I’d need some training to do if I even dared to try playing publicly,” Matthew said. Kiku just shook his head, implying his unwillingness.

“Why don’t you go play with them? They don’t look unapproachable. We can watch”, Kiku proposed.

“Yeah, they look quite nice,” Matthew added. Alfred looked at the men, but shrugged.

“I should practise a bit first.” He didn’t have a hunch of how to play those games outside billiard.

An hour later they departed from the bar, said goodbyes and went on their own ways. Alfred didn’t go straight home, but visited a department store. He went to look for something to train bar games on.

 _A dartboard! Fits perfectly in the flat,_ Alfred thought, and went home with the new hobby.

On day one he hung the board on his wall, and threw the first time. He had done this at his friend’s summer cottage a few years back, but hadn’t naturally made any progress since then. The darts flew completely amiss, making plenty of holes in his wall.

 _Damn, didn’t think about the wall._ He remembered a cardboard box he never used, and cut a rectangle out of it.

 _This will do,_ he smiled to himself, and attached it to the wall around and behind the dartboard.

He threw the darts again, but it wasn’t significantly better. He tried many times, but judging by what he had seen in the bar, he was below average.

 _Perhaps there are tutorials on Youtube,_ he thought, and looked up all information he found on the internet.

He practised for quite some time, until he felt sure in his ability to throw. Then, he invited Matthew and Kiku to his place to show them what had come to fruition. Their faces showed amazement after they had seen Alfred’s skills.

“I didn’t know you were this good!” Matthew exclaimed. “You should show the guys in the bar!” Kiku nodded excitedly nodded, agreeing with him.

“Thanks,” Alfred smiled. He felt confident. They decided to go to the bar and try his skills out there.

Arthur and his friends were playing billiard. Kiku and Matthew were watching Alfred throw the dart in a nearby table. He threw a few practice rounds, which all went quite well.

Alfred took a deep breath before his first serious throw. He had to concentrate. He looked at the bar’s rough dartboard, which had obviously been through a lot. He aimed for the centre, and threw. Some bored drinkers at tables close by followed his game.

In a moment that felt like a whole minute, the dart hit just the right spot. Alfred felt excitement, and looked over at where Arthur was playing, whether he saw. Behind him Matthew and Kiku clapped with some other bargoers that noticed his feat. Alfred smiled at them, and tried to concentrate yet again.

The second time didn’t go as well. The dart flew off, somewhere in the edge.

 _Darn it,_ he thought. _Must be the excitement over the bullseye that got me._

He took the third dart in his hand, gazed long at the dartboard and threw. A moment of silence, and then the earlier crowd started an uproar.

“He threw the dart straight in the bullseye! And struck straight through the previous one that was in there!” one of the viewers declared in a loud voice. The ruckus was enough to catch the attention of Arthur’s group, who looked at them.

“Did you see that, Arthur? This boy right here, the dart he threw went straight through a dart in the bullseye!” a man shouted, and waved for Arthur to come look at it. Alfred felt even more excited about that than hitting twice the bullseye. The young man walked over, taking calm steps one at a time, examined the dartboard and said,

“So it seems.”

Arthur turned to look at Alfred with that concentrated look on his face. He felt uneasy, but tried to smile charmingly at the man.

“That’s quite impressive,” Arthur said. “How long have you been playing?”

“Some two to three months,” Alfred answered, not mentioning that he used basically all his free time to practising this. There was a surprised look on Arthur’s face, and his mouth formed an adorable ‘o’.

“Arthur, take a round with him!” someone shouted, and others joined. “Yeah, take one! We want to see!” Arthur grinned.

“Would you like one?” he asked. Alfred nodded. He took his darts ready, and Arthur took a seat near Matthew and Kiku. Alfred felt him bore his eyes on him, and had trouble concentrating on the throws. It went all right, although not nearly as well as moment ago.

Next was Arthur’s turn. Alfred took his seat and watched intently as he aimed. He hadn’t been this close before. Alfred felt excitement and admiration at the sight. Arthur was well dressed, having put on dress shirt and neat trousers. His sleeves were rolled and a few buttons loosened in the top of the shirt. He had a nice, soft looking skin and a beautiful face with distinct features. When he aimed, he pierced the board once with his eyes, secondly with his dart.

Then, like a sniper, Arthur shot the dart. It was a bullseye. After that, every throw was as precise and pristine, hitting all the spots as intended. The crowd went wild. The game was over in 12-15 turns. Arthur, of course, won.

“That’s our boy!” a man cheered. Arthur smiled, obviously pleased with his win. He walked up to Alfred and offered his hand.

“Good game,” Arthur said, and shook hands with Alfred, who smiled back. He was a bit confused why there was such a crowd and why everyone was so worked up about their match. Now that it was over, everyone returned to their own peers and calmed down. Arthur went back to the billiard board, where his friends patted him on the back and probably joked about something as they laughed.

When they arrived back to their table Matthew said,

“I heard from others that Arthur was a champion in darts.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but he quit playing professionally soon after marrying.”

Alfred felt like he was struck right in the nerve. _He was married?!_

“Well, with those looks I guess one cannot avoid admirers…” Kiku said.

“The guy looks like he’s in his early twenties! Married already?” Alfred ranted.

“Yeah, from what I’ve heard, he’s 23. Some people find partners young”, Matthew explained. “Look, this information’s on Google. Guess he had a lot of fans…”

Alfred was gutted after hearing the man was already taken. He had been admiring him long, but there were fans that had been after him for a lot longer… He was just some bloke around the corner, but Arthur was an actual champion! No wonder he was so adept at handling the darts. Then he remembered something.

“Did you see a ring on his finger?” Alfred asked. Matthew and Kiku fell into thought for a moment.

“No, I don’t remember seeing one… We were quite close, so we would’ve seen,” Matthew said. Kiku turned to look at the billiard board, where Arthur and his friends were.

“From what I can see, he doesn’t have one on,” Kiku concluded, “but that doesn’t mean he isn’t married. Perhaps he doesn’t like to wear it at all times or they just don’t have one.”

That sparked hope in Alfred, although Kiku’s speculation could be true.

When another day was done at the bar and Alfred reached home, he went to the computer to search up information on Arthur.

_Arthur… Darts… Found him! Arthur… Kirkland? That’s his name? Ooh, there are pictures and videos of him…_

Arthur was a child prodigy. At the age of 9 he had already began competing in the national level. As a teen, he won world cup after another, but at the age of 21 he announced that he quits playing professionally.

 _Was that when he met his partner?_ Alfred wondered.

There were several videos of him where he is shown from all angles. After watching a couple of Arthur’s matches on the internet, Alfred realised he was nowhere even near his level. What happened at the bar was only a result of practice and exceptionally good luck. Arthur, in the other hand, was phenomenal. When he really focused, he hit every spot he aimed. Arthur had been a popular topic on various forums. Many people were fans of him, especially girls. _Figures…_

Alfred dug quite deep in the forums. There were rumours about his life, possible girlfriends, secret photos taken by fans… He seemed like a nice enough guy. Of course, there were scandalous rumours too, but every celebrity has them. There was evidence in some threads that he was originally from a noble family, but his surname was later changed to hide it. That would explain his fine way of dressing and good manners.

Official information concerning his wife was also available, although not so much. Some wedding photos on news sites, a short Wikipedia entry. She was a beautiful woman, very fitting for such a handsome man as Arthur. When official information ended, Alfred dug up rumours by reading various forums. Many threads were created by obviously jealous fangirls, and some rumours sounded clearly fabricated and unreliable.

One quite recent thread caught Alfred’s attention. One of the commenters claimed to be a friend of Arthur’s friend. The person claimed that Arthur’s marriage was one of a horrible fiasco.

“From time to time I see a friend who has known Arthur from childhood. Let’s call him F. Before we go to any of that marriage stuff, you need to know why he quit playing. When he was 20, his father died. Apparently, he had been under relentless family control before, so Arthur felt so freed that he went completely astray. He ran away from home, leased an apartment under a fake name and lived by the money he had earned. That was the time when he started not showing up to matches. He started attending questionable clubs and events, got piss drunk off anything and got involved in some fishy business.

When nasty rumours got out, his brothers found him and took him home. From what I’ve heard, he was completely wrecked. His memory was hazy and he was sluggish. It was publicly announced that he was taking a break due to health problems, when actually it was all the partying and tasting a bit of everything that affected his mental and physical state. The break soon turned into Arthur quitting altogether. During his recovery, the family received a redirected letter originally sent to Arthur’s secret address. In the letter a one-night stand revealed to be pregnant with his child. Horrified, the family took contact with the girl. After that the family arranged meetings with the girl and apparently she helped a lot in getting Arthur back on track. Now they’re married, but it seems Arthur doesn’t really get along with her. The girl, I’ve heard, was an avid fan of his, and they had it going for a while, but their relationship just doesn’t work. The situation at home is chaotic. Arthur avoids the wife at all cost, and when the wife finds him she threatens him and keeps the child as hostage. So that’s all my friend has told me recently.”

Shocked, Alfred scrolled through the thread. The story sounded quite believable, but anything from forums was unreliable information. Before the match, he only had entertained the idea of getting to know Arthur. Today he had a whole range of emotions from slight crush to full-blown infatuation, to disappointment and hopelessness. Now, he was conflicted. If Arthur’s marriage wasn’t a loving one, he could have a chance. On the other hand, nothing indicated that he was into men. It was still worth a shot. If he got Arthur to go on a date with him once, he would be happy. If he then wanted to turn him down, he would accept it.

The goal was set. A date with him.

To achieve that, he needed to hit the bullseye many more times.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what I'm doing
> 
> I think I last wrote USUK fanfiction in 2015, and now it's 2019. Just woke up today, and thought I want to write something for fun. Life's strange, huh!


End file.
